In today's society pet-owners treat their pets more and more like family members and preventative medicine is helping pets live longer, healthier lives. However, despite the state of veterinarian medicine and the willingness of pet owners to expend money to help their pets live longer, many older and smaller pets have mobility issues that keep them from getting into cars, and onto furniture such as beds and couches.
As shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C, there are currently several commercially available options to help smaller and/or geriatric animals get into cars and onto furniture. For example, FIG. 1 shows an exemplary set of carpeted pet stairs. Although suitable for helping pets get onto furniture, the steps are a solid structure and cannot be folded down for storage. FIG. 1B shows an alternative type of pet steps that are designed to help animals get into automobiles. Although these pet steps are foldable, storable, and transportable, they are primarily meant for outdoor use.
In addition to the pet steps described above, there are currently a variety of pet ramps on the market that serve similar purposes. Exemplary prior art pet ramps are shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D. Although many of currently available ramp devices are foldable (FIG. 1D) and easily stored, there are several drawbacks to these pet ramps. First, many pets may be afraid to walk up the pet ramp because the ramp is either too steep or the animal is just not accustomed to walking up ramps. Additionally, the ramps typically need a fairly significant area to ensure that the ramp will fit and that the ramp is not so steep that the animal will have difficulty climbing it.